- James Whitham
Michael James 'Jamie' Whitham [http://www.biggerbooks.com/bk_detail.aspx?isbn=9781844254927] (born
September 6 ,1966 inHuddersfield ,Yorkshire ,England ), is a former professionalmotorcycle road racer. He raced in most major British and international championships, winning the British championship twice. The readers of Motorcycle News voted him 'Man of the Year' in both 1991 and 1996.Early Years
He won the 1986 British 80cc Championship, the 1991 MCN TT Superbike Challenge, with
Suzuki ; and for Yamaha in 1993 both theBritish Superbike Championship Supercup and the ACU TT British Superbike Championship.International racing and Personal Problems
In 1994 he raced full-time in the
Superbike World Championship forDucati , taking a race win at Sentul and finishing 7th overall. He returned to the British series in 1995, leading the standings and taking a podium as a World Superbike Championship wild-card atBrands Hatch , but contractedHodgkin's Disease mid-season. He recovered in time to be British Superbike Championship runner-up in 1996 on a Yamaha, despite missing the first two rounds [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_/ai_n14044544] .He raced for the Harris Suzuki team in the World Superbike Championship in 1997 and 1998, finishing 8th in the championship both seasons with a total of 3 podiums [http://www.geocities.com/paul_fawcett/wsb.htm] , but for 1999 the factory contract changed hands, and the new owners hired
Pierfrancesco Chili andKatsuaki Fujiwara . Worse was to follow when he was hired byKenny Roberts ' uncompetitiveModenas 500cc World Championship team: he crashed heavily at Brno, breaking his pelvis.He competed in the Supersport World Championship from 2000 to 2002. He won his very first race before a string of crashes (including while leading at
Misano [http://www.dropbears.com/m/models/roadtests/issue48.htm] )knocked his confidence and relegated him to 8th overall in 2000 [http://www.geocities.com/paul_fawcett/wss2000.htm] . He was 4th overall in 2001, forced to support team-matePaolo Casoli 's bid for the championship [http://www.geocities.com/paul_fawcett/wss2001.htm] . In 2002 he won in the wet at Silverstone [http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/motor-cycling-bayliss-leaves-edwards-and-hodgson-in-his-wake-612895.html] , beforeGlaucoma , most likely a consequence of pastchemotherapy , caused him to retire at the end of the year. In total he took 4 World Supersport victories [http://www.europark.com/ny-gpdat/ny-pw_ss.htm] and 12 podiums. He held the Supersport lap record atDonington Park untilKenan Sofuoglu beat it in 2007 [http://www.dailymotos.co.uk/noticias-motos/kenan-sofuoglu-wins-the-world-supersport-race-at-donington-park/9605] .Post Racing
He now runs
Crosland Moor airfield , and has established a second career as a popular TV analyst forEurosport andChannel 4 [http://armchairbikefan.blogspot.com/2008/05/musing-on-commentators.html] . He also works as a road tester for the British motorcycle magazine T.W.O, and has also worked with the young riders of the Virgin Media Cup [http://www.moto-newsblog.com/news/british-superbike-bsb-virgin-yamaha-croft-preview/1946/] . 2008 he launched his autobiography, 'What A Good Do!' [http://www.alexreade.net/acatalog/LIVE_EVENT_DETAILS.html] .External links
* [http://www.suziperry.com/schmoozedec.html Interview with Suzi Perry]
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